THE ROLEX BLING THING — DAYTONA DAYS
For a while now, certain people have been sharing pictures on social media of Rolex sports models that would look more at home of the wrist of Liberace, driving a gold Rolls-Royce through the streets of Saint Tropez than they would on the wrist of a commercial diver or a racing driver. For many years, the majority of taste-makers and market-shakers resolutely paraded steel dive watches, manual-wind Daytonas and the occasional platinum or yellow-gold Day-Date.
Of late, precious metal Rolex sports watches are hotting up quicker than an alpine fondue pot and the once-derogatory moniker “bling” is actually an affectionate and positive adjective for some of Wilsdorf’s wonders. Where traditionally the gems and stones were mainly applied to Daytonas and Day-Dates, even the Submariner and GMT-Master are game for dressing up in their finery. Is it a flash in the pan or are collectors looking for a new direction for their collections?
EARLY GEMS
Rolex adding diamonds to their watches is nothing new. In the 1950s, they were setting the hour markers on some of their simple Oyster watches with small, brilliant-cut diamonds. However, the way was truly paved (pun intended!) with the Day-Date in the early-to-mid-1960s, when Rolex began offering the
